Today I would consider GetResponse to be on the most competitive email autoresponder services for normal end users. Similar competitors would be services such as Aweber or Mailchimp.

I have been using GetResponse for over a year now and have overall been very happy with the service.
in this review I will cover everything you need to know about the GetResponse service. I will be covering each aspect of the service in separate sections.

Speed & Ease Of Use

GetResponse offers a very intuitive interface for managing your email lists. Once you log in you will be presented with several options to get started with your email campaign:

You can easily setup segmentation between your email lists as soon as you login. GetResponse allows you to switch between “campaigns” which are technically just different email lists.

Submitting email messages can be done either through a GUI based email creator or using their own HTML editor. Upon setting up a message you will be given the option to populate the email subject line, share with Facebook & Twitter, track your email click through rates and even run A/B split testing.

The GUI editor offers a wide selection of templates that can be used, for example at the time of writing this Valentines day was approaching so GetResponse is additionally offering Valentines day email templates as seen in the next screenshot:

If you decide to start from scratch, you can populate your email message with drag & drop elements such as text blocks, images, and line breaks. They also offer a mobile inbox preview to give you an example of what your email will look like for someone who is using a mobile device to read your email message.

You also have the option to segment which email lists will receive your email and even exclude unwanted recipients.

Overall the speed and and usage of the messaging system takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it you will be sending out emails with ease. The overall site navigation is fairly straight forward and simple to navigate through.

Each section of the site is split up making it easy to additionally manage contacts, manage your newsletter messages, statistics, create opt-in forms, surveys, and even landing pages with an optional upgrade.

Importing Email Contacts

If you plan to import contacts from another service GetResponse actually allows you to import your contacts without the need to confirm their opt-in again. This is a huge advantage to the GetResponse service.

I actually had over 50 contacts from a simple WordPress plugin I used to gather emails before I ever signed up for any service.

When I signed up with Aweber I attempted to import those contacts and of course because they needed to confirm their subscription I had many people ignore it and most likely have no idea what it was.

Since I couldn’t email these people (Unless I did it one by one) I basically could not get them onto my list. With GetResponse I was able to just add them and begin emailing them right away.

Email Open Rates & Statistics

As soon as you login to your GetResponse account you will see some statistics about your most recently sent email blast. I currently have an email list with about 400~ people on it and typically see about a 10% open rate. I can also view the percentage of people who are clicking on links within my email.

Here is an example:

Of course the open rate is not entirely dependent on the GetResponse service itself. Overall I’ve found when testing my email blasts against my own Hotmail and Gmail based accounts the emails arrive within a couple minutes and never end up in any of my junk or spam folders which is a huge plus.

AutoResponder 2.0

Most email services give users the capability to setup an autoresponder or the ability to “auto-schedule” your email blasts. GetResponse has one of the most intuitive calendar based systems I have used as of yet.

Here is an example from one of my campaigns showing the Time based autoresponder:

As you can see I have setup an initial email to be delivered as soon as someone signs up on my list. This is perfect for delivering your eBook or a free giveaway incentive.

After they receive that first email they will receive a 2nd, 3rd and 3th email every 7 days all on autopilot. It’s very easy to create new messages using this calendar view, this is by far one of my favorite features of GetResponse.

You can also set up action based autoresponders, an email could be sent out based on a user opening an email, not opening an email, clicking a link etc. Based on those actions you can send out different emails depending on how users interact with the emails you send out.

Email List Management

GetResponse recently introduced their new search contacts interface which gives users full control over their email marketing campaigns. You can easily manage users with advanced targeting and search capabilities.

This system is a major improvement from their previous system, I had previously been unable to set specific filters to manage my contacts they way I would have liked. The new interface is a huge step up for GetResponse in terms of email management.

Additional Features Included With GetResponse

Surveys

You can create surveys for your email lists

Time Zone email delivery

You can have emails delivered in the same time zone based on where the users on your email list are located. This is a very cool feature, everyone will basically be receiving the emails for their own local time.

Inbox Preview

You can preview how your email blast will look on Mobile devices as well as within different email provider systems.

Mobile Application

You can download the GetResponse app on your Android or Iphone device to manage your lists and view statistics.

Customer Service & Support

GetResponse offers great customer service, upon initially signing up for the service I received a phone call from one of the companies representatives to ask me if I had any questions or concerns about getting started.

I was a bit taken back by this at first, to think out of all the services I’ve ever signed up for online how often do you actually get a phone call from a real person? I’d say most often, almost never! When you consider most services keep you in a “queue” till someone is available to help they have certainly gone above and beyond by calling their new customers to see if they have any questions.

I’ve used the chat feature to contact support as well and found it to be very easy to communicate with customer service to get my questions answered quickly.
Pricing

One of the main reasons I decided to use GetResponse as an email responder was the price. You can find detailed information about GetResponse Pricing here.

Since my list was small I was able to import around ~250-300 contacts from Aweber and use the $15 per month subscription for under 1000 email addresses. Once you grow a larger email list of up to 2500 you can upgrade for $25 per month. Each service plan also offers discounts for annual membership.

GetResponse also offers a 30 day trial to test drive the service, during the trial you will have all the functionality of a paid member so you can really see all that GetResponse has to offer.

Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with GetResponse.

Here is a list of what I did and didn’t like about the service.

What I like about GetResponse:

The email delivery rate is great.

Wide selection of email templates and opt-in forms.

Easy to manage contacts and manage email segmentation

Very simple to use interface for automatic Autoresponders

Importing contacts was a breeze and did not require users to opt-in (HUGE plus)

Customer service has been very friendly and offers lots of ways to contact them for help.

Great API Integration with popular marketing systems (JvZoo, Hybrid Connect).

What I don’t like about GetResponse:

Takes a bit longer than I’d like to send out a very “basic” email without using a template. I think when comparing to Aweber it’s faster if you just want to send out a quick email.

No way to easily manage contacts based on who has opened an email and when (Would be nice to remove junk emails or people who never open them)

To sum it up I have been using GetResponse for the past year without many issues and I would highly recommend it to those that are looking to build an email list online. GetResponse is an affordable solution packed with great features and the company provides great customer service.

Spreading The Word, 4k At A Time…

You are a true hero of mine…this is FANTASTIC right down to the design and delivery…aside form sending in my next email to 4,000+, let me know how I can ever be of assistance. LB

Kudos

It was very inspirational to hear you on the morning show today! congrats! you sounded poised, super savvy and passionate about your work. Tom & I especially enjoyed the Canada Post lady squirm on the funding question! Keep on being the earth warrior!:o)

Check Out The Rad Blog In This Link

Thank you so much for starting the red dot campaign.It is people like you that inspire us all to help our communities!

Forward to a Friend?

Thank you for this wonderful campaign! I have already printed off my letter and left it in my mailbox for my carrier.If I could make one suggestion: could you please add a button on your website that enables people to forward your home page to a list of friends?

Thanks, and good luck for a highly successful undertaking,

Diane

Three Cheers!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For years I have been told that Canada Post is obliged UNDER LAW to deliver admail. I have emailed all my friends and acquaintances about your campaign. Thank you for exposing the red dot option – our forests, and all the fauna and flora that depend upon them, will be the ultimate benefactors. Three cheers for Beth! May the forest be with you, Steve

Simple!

I just heard your interview on CBC and checked out the website – what a great, SIMPLE solution!
However, I have one question that wasn’t addressed on the FAQ page. If I put up a red dot and stop having junk mail delivered to my house, what does the mailperson do with it? Is there any guarantee that they won’t just throw it out somewhere (i.e., not recycle it, as I do) or put it in someone else’s mailbox? I’m not suggesting that mailpeople are lazy; I just know that if I had to carry that heavy mail bag on flyers day, I’d be tempted to dump the extra weight somewhere. Thanks.

Junk Mail Warrior

I was so happy to find your website via a Globe and Mail article I read today. I have already printed out the appropriate documentation and yet again I have filled in the No Mail / No Phone form. Back in the mid 90’s I became so fed up with junk mail and phone telemarketers that I made it a personal goal to try and eliminate it from my life. I was still a younger hot-headed man back then so it took a lot of practice especially with the telemarketers to get around their scripts and to get what I wanted out of them without losing my temper. I found out very early on that you had to be a cool cookie when dealing with telemarketers over the phone. Over the years I have become so practiced at eliminating my junk mail and telemarketing phone calls that I virtually have none. It has also taught me a lot about myself and how to interact with people to reach a goal that I have. In short it was an invalualbe excercise that I am glad I challenged myself with. Now with the the prospects of the no call list actually becoming a reality and efforts from smart minded people like you I hope my days of tounge tying telemarketers are over! Again, great work! Cheers, Cory

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks for starting the Red Dot campaign. I know that Canada Post actually started it, but your efforts are bringing into the limelight! And that’s great! Had I have known that Canada Post had such an option I would have signed up for it years ago. Thanks for bringing it to Canada’s attention! You’re doing a great job, keep up the good work! Just a suggestion maybe your web site could also encourage people to sign up with Canada’s e-Post service so they can get their bills electronically and together we can save even more paper!

BTW if you’re interested in a quick daily read filled with green tips I suggest you check out www.idealbite.com. It’s a free online daily e-newsletter that’s got some great green ideas!

Thanks again,

Chris, Edmonton, AB

More Info

I’m fully supportive of your campaign. Just a clarification of facts. I have worked for CPC, the red dots have been in existence for much more than a year. They are the only way to alert the post office that junk (unaddressed) mail is not desired. People have to register with the local postal depot; the letter carrier will affix the red dot. The post office needs to know the numbers in order to adjust their distribution of material to the letter carrier. Any personal notes like “no junk mail” will NOT be respected by the letter carrier. The post office has never publicized this service because its widespread use would have serious impact on profits. The reason most people continue to receive their junk is because they can’t live without their community newspaper. Seniors love it because it’s the only mail they receive and they believe their winning Readers Digest jackpot is in the mail.

Ken

Beth Response – We believe leaving a letter is the most fool-proof. We like the No Junk Mail sign in addition since it helps us spread the word.

Thanks

Love your campaign, great idea. Now if somehow we could stop the local community newspapers from stuffing their papers with advertising paper that no one reads and usually winds up blowing all around the neighbourhood or getting soaked on the front porch we’d all be better off.

Canada Post – we need more clarification

We are getting a lot of queries about municipal notices. A rather crazy policy that a crown corporation is selective about what government mail it delivers. Note:

Many municipal notices can be found online.

A retired letter carrier called me that most carriers will deliver any municipal notices — if they believe they are in the best interest of the household they will be delivered.

As more municipalities adopt zero waste strategies they will have to take notice of this policy

Mostly, I believe we must bring the policies to light, open them up for discussion, present them to Canada Post for more clarification — and our collective voices may bring about change.

Thanks for getting the discussion started.

Election Notices – Fairness of Consumers Choice Rules

I think this is a great campaign – my organizations have already taken part in similar grassroots campaigns in the past, but this one seems much more likely to succeed because of cooperation from Canada Post. However, I have a question about election flyers and how they are treated by the reddot process.

As a past and future election candidate, election fliers are a vital part of reaching voters. Although I sometimes use flyer delivery companies, newspapers, or volunteers, I also sometimes use Canada Post bulk unaddressed mail. Will this be stopped by reddot?

If so, then I have a serious concern about fairness. Your literature states:

“community newspapers and letters from the House of Commons, provincial and municipal electoral offices and Elections Canada” will not be stopped.

If these are allowed through, but items from other candidates are not, it gives a huge additional advantage to incumbents – this in addition to their ability to use public funds & free mailing to promote themselves outside election writ periods.

Election materials may seem like junk mail to some, but they are qualitatively different. First, candidates aren’t making a profit from advertising, especially since most are not ultimately elected. They are using publicly-subsidized funds in many cases (due to contribution tax credits etc.) and personal money otherwise, so to make them waste campaign money would be to waste public or personal money, not corporate marketing accounts.

But most of all, flyers are a critical part of having an informed electorate. Without information about candidates, people can’t make an informed vote. There may be newspaper ads, or even radio & TV (rare for local candidates, as very expensive), but not everyone gets the newspaper, listens to the right station, or watches that channel. With flyer delivery to each home, at least you know your message has made it to each voter to decide to read or recycle. Nowadays flyers contain important information on further paperless contact options – email, website, phone, office address – without flyers, it can be hard for people to find all this information in a timely manner. Flyers are a key part of candidate visibility, especially for non-incumbent challengers. This is especially critical for municipal elections, where local candidates are least able to afford alternatives like newspaper, radio, or TV adverts.

Election advertising may seem like a bother, but it is a critical part of the democratic process. Government electoral authorities do minimal advertising, counting on party advertising to keep people well informed of voting day, voting locations, and who the choices are. Without it, the voter turnout would be far lower and people would end up voting based mainly on who they already know – the incumbent. Since TV and radio are the preserve of the large, well-funded campaigns, anything that suppresses direct mail can create greater barriers for smaller/newer parties and magnify the influence of big $ on the democratic process.

I hope the reddot campaign will not block election materials. If it does, I would like to know how I would make an official appeal to change this policy. Other than this concern, I hope for great success.

Awesome Questions

Even if we do not accept junk mail in our post box, will that stop the companies from printing the same amount of flyers? How do they know how many flyers were not delivered so they can print less next time? What does Canada Post do with the excess flyers?

If companies do not know how many fliers are undelivered, they will still continue to waste as much paper and probably increase the print amount as time goes by because some idiot in the company thinks there is a need for more flyers.

I feel something more needs to be done to get the message out there “Canadians are tired of Junk Mail!”

The companies should concentrate more on saving the environment by thinking about whether their junk mail is really needed and if it is effective. They send fliers to your mail box, you receive the same ones in the local paper, they come to your place of work and then they are available in all the stores. Is the cost of the excessive advertising paid for by the cost of the items you purchase?

I feel these are all important issues everyone should start paying attention to and asking questions about. How many useless credit applications do you receive a month? I could have a purse full of visa cards if I responded to all of them!!!!

Lipstick On A Pig!

The Green Marketing Coalition was recently formed in the US. Marketing professionals are at least acknowledging the need to revisit best practices in conjunction with their green strategy. But in checking out their guidelines it is obvious why Forest Ethics compares it to Lipstick on a Pig. Blogger Olga Orda covers the story and lists Red Dot in her references. Starting the discussion is useful, but its time to make meaningful reductions to print quantities and reduce our carbon footprint (while of course increasing recycled content and using only FSC paper). Measure. Reduce. Offset. Canadians use 263 kg of paper per year while the average global citizen uses 54 kg per year. What’s wrong with this picture?

1. What exactly is “Junk Mail”?

Any mail without an address is considered “unaddressed admail”. If you display a sign that says “No Junk Mail” or “No Admail” or “No Flyers”, Canada Post honours your choice. You can also send a letter to your local postal outlet. If after opting out, you still receive unaddressed mail please contact Canada Post by calling 1-866-607-6301.

After opting out, Canada Post may leave you the following Acknowledgement Note

Who likes Junk Mail?

67% of Canadians are not interested in flyers and advertising that comes in the mail.

25% of Canadians discard them without reading.

How many Canadian Residents have already opted out?

Based on urban counts, 5% of Canadian households have already chosen to say NO to admail. Let’s spread the word to remind others of their choice. In this way, households who want offers can receive them, and those of us who don’t want offers, will not. In effect, we create a “human filter” so that offers get in the hands of those who want them. We are helping increase response rates and advertising efficiencies, reducing the waste in our lives, and saving forests in the process.

Bridge to a Cool Planet 350.org

Red Dot was excited to be part of the action at Bridge to a Cool Planet – Vancouver’s International Day of Climate Action Festival. Red Dots for all on a beautiful Vancouver fall day. Mother Earth smiled down upon one of the largest turnouts on the globe!

Green Living highlights Red Dot in 20 Ways to Green Your Life for Under $20

We are fortunate to live in abundance where one of our major issues is TOO MUCH STUFF! And to keep us buying more, Canadians are inundated with $19 Billion worth of advertising each year. If the old adage is true, “half of all marketing works great, if only we knew which half” why don’t advertisers spend more resources understanding which half works and spend the other half supporting community?

Every household and every business must reduce carbon emissions by 30% of 1990 levels. Print advertisers must face this reality. We believe this transition can be done profitably and strategically through customer analysis, building community and adopting new technologies.

Over the last 13 years since the Millennium, notable developments have been achieved in the banking sector and money technology. There is no other major achievement that we have seen than the evolution of the mobile and email money transfer platforms. With just a click you could be sending money all over the world at any time of the day and night, whether on holiday or work day. This development is upon the emergence for need of a faster and less detailed money transfer service. Imagine just with a phone or personal computer, you could make instant payments, pay bills and send money to friends and family at a go. Email money transfer has led to billions of dollars being transferred online2 using email money transfer platforms. The emergence and growth of online email money transfers has led to creation of a number of online email money transfer platforms, each platform is characterized by the type of online money transfer service they offer, level of transfer and scope of the transfers. Below we will look at the top 5 online email money transfers available.

Spam email has increased in our emails today, of around 94 emails that are send today, 92 are spam emails. Junk mail as its known sometimes is an electronic spam that involves identical messages that are sent to various recipients that have links towards phising websites of websites holding malware. In most cases spam involves malware which are executable file attachment. At the same time, spam can include those unsolicited emails that are usually sent in bulk. These unsolicited emails have become a common practice today, with internet service providers taking steps and forking out spammers to courtrooms. But even with the actions from ISP’s still compensation has not been given or law created to effectively fight spamming. By 2010, a research done by the Message Anti-Abuse Working Group indicated that 88-92% of email sent was spam. That’s quite a number; hence it is upon corporations and email users to protect themselves from spamming. But in most cases it’s not easy to identify a spam email to a true email; indeed sometimes we are confused by certain emails which seem to be familiar and unfamiliar. At the same time, if you are tired on unsolicited emails that keep filling your inbox overtime. Spam checking involves two processes, spam filtering and checking.

These are email newsletters which advertise new products, services and any other news that a given Company may want people to know. Though many companies have not figured the best way to use these email newsletters such as; aweber, instant contact, icontanct and even getresponce so they end up giving up on them. Never give up what you need is to get a professional service provider and start enjoying the whole package.

Best Services

Recent Posts

Categories

About

Email marketing became a passion of mine since I started online.
One of the questions I always get asked is what is the best email marketing service to start with? Well with this site I hope to answer that question since everyones situation is just a little different.
Sometimes AWeber is best for building business while MailChimp may be right for a person just starting out.
This site will help pull back the curtain on all these services and you will be able to see what each service is like before you buy